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The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

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Re: The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

#51

Post by einhverfr »

samstave wrote: post #50
einhverfr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a very highly political volatile situation waiting to blow up in a Presidents face. You have to look at this in the overall picture of military size and spending though as well. Since WWII, with a few blips, the size of our armed forces (in the US) has been slowly decreasing, while military spending has been increasing at a relatively steady rate (outside of actual war-time expenses) regardless of who is in…

Or maybe there will be a world war to reset the cycle, kill off tons of uppity civilians and let those that can reap astounding profits and lock down more control over the experience of the civilization we have...

Do you really think, after our experience in Iraq, that we could win a world war? Our armed forces have been moving slowly away from a world-war type force since WWII. Fighting a world war requires having lots and lots of boots on the ground and vast quantities of manpower. A few robots can't match that.

Re: The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

#52

Post by coldtea »

samstave wrote: post #39
rdl wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of it is "seconds", it's all minutes or higher, and there is almost certainly at least a Colonel (20+ years experience), or a General, making the call. Every shoot probably goes through >20 people -- legal, various types of targeting, and technical/tactical "can the shot be made at all". The whole process is designed around getting approval for things like this rapidly. UAVs have many-hour loiter times, vs. comb…

The US military is nothing short of absolutely amazing. I just wish we lived in a world that didn't use it in such insidious ways. Politicians have made a habit of abstracting themselves from the reality of the military and at the same time exploiting every angle of it for political gain. But the sheer complexity and capability of the US military is dumbfounding.

Well, mostly the technological capacity.

Because in ways of bravery and valiancy the world hasn't seen much, if anything at all after WWII.

Mostly "oh, how brave we are, suffering a few casualties when fighting some goat herder enemies with 1/100 our capacity".

Re: The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

#53

Post by samstave »

einhverfr wrote: post #51
samstave wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe there will be a world war to reset the cycle, kill off tons of uppity civilians and let those that can reap astounding profits and lock down more control over the experience of the civilization we have...

Do you really think, after our experience in Iraq, that we could win a world war? Our armed forces have been moving slowly away from a world-war type force since WWII. Fighting a world war requires having lots and lots of boots on the ground and vast quantities of manpower. A few robots can't match that.

Winning schminning....

War is never about winning anything. It is about profiteering off death and destruction and paying sacrificial homage to the god of chaos to whom all politicians worship.

Re: The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

#54

Post by einhverfr »

samstave wrote: post #53
einhverfr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think, after our experience in Iraq, that we could win a world war? Our armed forces have been moving slowly away from a world-war type force since WWII. Fighting a world war requires having lots and lots of boots on the ground and vast quantities of manpower. A few robots can't match that.

Winning schminning.... War is never about winning anything. It is about profiteering off death and destruction and paying sacrificial homage to the god of chaos to whom all politicians worship.

But if you look at it that way, our military-industrial complex has become so efficient at waging war as a means to profiteering, that all we need are very tiny wars we can continue to wage forever. In fact this is what is happening.

But this continues to bolster my point, which is that our military is less and less prepared to fight a major war. The scary thing is that if a major conflict comes, we are totally unprepared and that's not fixable without rethinking the basics of military equipment and such.

Of course this is possible to turn around. The Byzantines managed to do so by cutting military spending during a series of wars they were losing. I think we need to follow their lead but that has tremendous implications on issues like gun control.

Re: The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

#55

Post by samstave »

coldtea wrote: post #52
samstave wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US military is nothing short of absolutely amazing. I just wish we lived in a world that didn't use it in such insidious ways. Politicians have made a habit of abstracting themselves from the reality of the military and at the same time exploiting every angle of it for political gain. But the sheer complexity and capability of the US military is dumbfounding.

Well, mostly the technological capacity. Because in ways of bravery and valiancy the world hasn't seen much, if anything at all after WWII. Mostly "oh, how brave we are, suffering a few casualties when fighting some goat herder enemies with 1/100 our capacity".

Totally agreed.
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